I admit it. I have a little bit of an obsession with the Torqeedo electric outboards. They’re so cool. I got a demo of the Torqeedo Traveller from Steve Trkla, national sales manager for Torqeedo USA, at Strictly Sail. Sadly, there were camcorder handling issues, which is a shame as it would have made a pretty cool video. But, I did learn some things Torqeedo fanciers would probably like to know, so listen up:
- The Torqeedos are designed for high thrust and displacement speeds. They will not get your RIB up on a plane.
- The big modular lithium manganese batteries that can be used with the larger Torqeedo drives are prohibitively expensive (on the order of $3,500). Regular lead acid batteries will be the logical choice for most folks.
- One of the designers of the Torqeedo had a boat on an engine-free lake in Europe, and found that existing trolling motors were inadequate to move it effectively, which inspired him to design a higher peformance electric drive.
- If you’re at Opening Day (the official start of boating season) in Seattle, watch for a Duroboat with a Torqeedo drive.
2 responses so far ↓
Carl Orsi // May 8, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Hey, I know Timflan (fellow C-Brat owner) and I OWN a Torqeedo 801, which I have used/tested on my Mercury inflatable RU240. I’d be willing to let you do a video test of the system if you’d like. My boat, “Gigi”, is in the Edmonds marina just like “Two Lucky Fish.”
Tim has my phone number.
-Carl
Aaron // May 9, 2007 at 10:00 pm
That’s outstanding Carl–thanks for offering to let us do a video demo of the Torqeedo. We will be in touch!
Leave a Comment